Structured nanocomposite catalysts of biofuels transformation into syngas and hydrogen: Design and performance

Main features of structured catalysts performance in bio-fuels reforming into syngas at lab-scale and pilot-scale levels using specially designed reactors and kinetic installations allowing to broadly tune the operational parameters are presented. Effects of the nature of nanocomposite active component comprised of Ru + Ni nanoparticles on bulk/alumina-supported perovskite or Mn-Cr-O spinel, type of substrate (Ni-Al alloy and SiC(Al2O3)/Al-Si-O foam substrates, Fechraloy microchannel plates or gauzes protected by thin corundum layer), type of fuel (natural gas, ethanol, acetone, ethyl acetate glycerol), feed composition and temperature on yield of syngas/byproducts and performance stability are considered. The best performance in real feeds with syngas yield approaching equilibrium at short contact times without any heat/mass transfer effects along with a high thermo-chemical stability were demonstrated for catalyst on heat-conducting microchannel substrate. Oxygen addition to the feed in optimized amounts allows to suppress coking and stabilize performance even for the case of such reactive fuel as glycerol only slightly affecting syngas yield. Copyright (c) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.